Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on Saturday Headline talking about the Calgary Flames, Ottawa Senators, Edmonton Oilers, and the Montreal Canadiens
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Friedman: “All right, well 24 hours now Ron since Nikita Zadorov‘s agent Dan Milstein set the internet ablaze by making it very clear he felt his client needed change of scenery.
Radio silence out of Calgary today. I don’t think that is a surprise. You know, one thing when that happens, a team feels it loses its leverage to make the best possible deal and I think the Flames want to calm everything down. So they can kind of reset the market.
NHL Rumors: Nikita Zadorov asks the Calgary Flames for a trade.
You know, Calary’s got three unrestricted D that have gotten a lot of attention. It’s believed Vancouver and Toronto are among the teams that are interested in Tanev and Zadorov, if not both. And Arizona was a team that took a long look at Noah Hanifin this week.
Now what I think this did do, the agents tweets night, was bring other teams in to kind of see where this was, what Calgary’s timetable is, and what the price could be. As I sit here right now with Ron, famous last words, nothing imminent.
And I do think the Flames made it very clear to Zadorov, while they might be willing to move him, they’re going to do it on their own timetable.
Ron McLean: “I’m throwing you off here because it’s your segment but Ottawa, you know Steve Staios trying to stabilize, you’ve made great mention of that. But they’ve got four left-hand shot defenseman, you know, (Thomas) Chabot and (Jake) Sanderson and (Jakob) Chychrun and (Erik) Brannstrom. Do you think they’re in the market for this? Calgary.”
Friedman: “I think well the thing is, that the one thing with Ottawa is its cap. They have a cap situation they have to deal with and I know they’ve been looking for D. They just have a problem with the cap and that’s kind of prevented everything from happening.
Okay, Edmonton. That’s the, this is the Alberta show part of the show tonight. Edmonton this week, I think they’re in shock. I think they’re just in shock about how bad everything that’s been going. Everybody’s focusing on the goaltending but it’s deeper than that. They’re not defending. They’re not scoring. Everything they thought they do well, they aren’t doing well. Even the power play is nowhere near as good as it’s been.
They did what all of you would expect. They spent a lot of this week calling around the league trying to see what was available out there. But the one thing they made very clear is they weren’t going to make a desperate done deal. And the problem with that is, you know, other teams say look, we’re happy to just wait things out right now. It’s still early.
So I don’t think Edmonton found a trade partner or they didn’t find a trade partner on anything they thought could be reasonable. So they have to figure it out themselves for now. The one thing I really do believe though, Ron, is the things don’t get better and I don’t think Edmonton has given up on this season at all, but if things don’t get better, something is going to have to change. They know that can’t keep going like this.”
NHL Rumors: Do the Edmonton Oilers go bargain hunting or do they swing a Predators goalie?
McLean: “Skinner tonight in goal, so some thought they might go to Calvin Pickard but you say Stewart Skinner.
Friedman: “Skinner tonight.
And just one other note. I don’t want to handicap it, say it’s close or not close. But I do think Montreal is taking a real run and getting Samuel Montembeault signed. He’s an unrestricted free agent. And he’s one of the best this year at goals saved above expected according to Money Puck the great site. So I think they are trying to see if they can close something with him.